Hoist the colors
by M.M.Chris
Summary: 12 year old Portgas D Ace has finally found a place to "harbor himself" amongst the Whitebeard Pirates. Still haunted by memories of his past he's slowly getting used to having a place to return to, when an owl brings him a strange letter. AU for backstory changes, rated T for violence and pirate language. Rating may change later.
1. PROLOGUE

PROLOGUE

A/N so first fic ever for a non English speaking writer, try to be nice please! AU because of changes with Ace's backstory, if you don't like then don't read!

also for consistency reasons Hogwarts starts at 12 years ols and not 11. Reviews are warmly welcomed! enjoy!

_Aujourd'hui est le premier jour du reste de ma vie. VICTOR HUGO_

_(Today is the last day of the rest of my life.)_

He hadn't shed a single tear. Not even once. As he was cradled in Rubeus Hagrid's hands the baby finally fell asleep, not knowing that he no longer had a home, a family, a mother. His father had already died before his birth. Albus Dumbledore never knew how. When the two Potter had left with the expedition to explore the new world the ministry had just discovered behind the Veil, they were two young lovers thirsty of adventure, with hopes of a new start and dreams of a more beautiful future. As far as the old wizard knew, they were among the very few wizards who remained behind the Veil. All of those who came back described this new world as a universe of constant violence and danger, but when James Potter talked about it in his letters, he spoke of a world of freedom and adventure, where all dreams could become true.

Apparently the couple settled down somewhere on a quite peaceful area (on an island called…was it Lost Tow? Rogue Town? Logue Town!) learned the language, started this new life they dreamed of. While she was staying on the island to take care of their future child (Sirius had been dancing of joy for a week in the Order of the Phoenix Headquarters when he had learned that he was going to be a godfather), her husband answered to "the call of adventure" as he wrote it and left sailing around this unknown world. Ever since his time here at Hogwarts James Potter had been the brave and adventurous type and it seemed that his tendency to look for problems and dangerous situations hadn't faded at all!

But one year ago Lily came back. She no longer used the name of "Lily Potter" but told them that she was now known as "Portgas D. Rouge", a new name to start in a new world, and that James also took the new name of "Roger". And that he just died.

Lily, no _Rouge_ told them that to try to forget her grief she came back, away from the memories of those wonderful years they had spent together in the "Umi World". But the old wizard knew there was something else. She looked like she was trying to hide from someone…or something. He didn't know what kind of life Roger had lived, but apparently he did something that may endanger his wife and son.

Their son. A beautiful little boy, raven haired like his father, freckles and stunning green eyes like his mother.

But if Rouge's idea was to indeed protect herself and her son, coming back wasn't the most brilliant idea ever. The war was raging on. The Dark Lord was ruling over the wizarding world, ordering the death of all mudbloods and muggles, torturing his opponents and spreading terror amongst the population. They were living dark times.

As a muggleborn Rouge was in great danger, as for her son…how could he put it simply? Well according to a recent prophecy, this little baby was supposed to be the one to destroy Lord Voldemort. Rouge joined the Order of the Phoenix to fight for was she believed was right, but soon she had to hide with her baby, for the Dark Lord had learned about the prophecy and was planning to murder this innocent child, for him a dangerous threat.

Rouge managed to stay hidden for a couple of months, but betrayed by a close friend she was left to die from Voldemort's hand. But then, as this evil man, this cold-blooded murderer tried to simply kill the young child, the impossible happened. Nobody really knew why or even how, but as he was trying to kill Portgas D Rouge's son, Lord Voldemort was destroyed.

And here he was, right in front of the old wizard, only a small bundle in Hagrid's hands. Dumbledore had first planned to give the boy to his relatives, to keep him safe from the still free Death Eaters and to avoid him a childhood spoiled by fame as this small baby was already known as "_the Boy Who Lived_", when he got a strange message from the Umi World.

A man was claiming that Roger had entrusted him with his child's safety and that in order to do so he informed him about the wizarding world and how to cross the Veil. Apparently the man had looked for Roger's son for quite a long time already and had finally found sign of him because of his recent fame. The mysterious man had asked if he could bring the boy back to the Umi world where he would be raised in safety. Dumbledore had carefully thought about it and had finally reached the conclusion that it was even better for the boy if he were to be raised in an entirely different world, only legendary for most of the wizards because the Ministry had never revealed to the population how to cross the Veil but only to a few selected volunteers.

The three of them were now waiting for this Monkey D Garp to take the child, Hagrid already crying while cradling the baby and Minerva silently sobbing and sighing.

When the man finally arrived in Dumbledore's office, he quickly took the bundle from Hagrid's hands, had a few words with the Headmaster and was about to leave when he finally asked:

"By the way, what's this child's name?"

"Ace. His name is Ace."

END OF PROLOGUE


	2. Chapter 1: BEGINNINGS

I DO NOT (even if I wish I did) OWN ONE PIECE OR HARRY POTTER.

A/N so here we go for the first chapter, yes it's fast bu I've already typed the first 3 chapters so why waiting?

I'm saying it again but it's AU, so if you don't like that then read another fic.

Thank you for all of you who already read the prologue, you guys rock!

again reviews would be great, even if criticisms (of course if you have something clever to say)

Thank you of course to Toria-Neko, my first reviewer ever!

to answer to you, Ace's background will be quite different (read this chapter and you'll start to understand...) even if some things will stay the same, for example he will still be Luffy's brother. As for Sabo that'll be a bit different, but I hope you'll enjoy it! And of course I'm not even thinking of making him die (making your fav characters live when they die in the actual story, that's what fics are for!)

enjoy!

CHAPTER 1: BEGINNINGS

_Homme libre, toujours tu chériras la mer! CHARLES BAUDELAIRE_

_( Free man, always you shall cherish the sea!)_

**_11 years later_**

Leaning against the hand-rail of the Moby Dick, Portgas D Ace was admiring one of Grand Line's legendary sunrises, enjoying the nice breeze on his freckled face and simply happy to be in this place at this time.

"That's how life's supposed to be. Just me, my nakama and the ocean. Nobody to answer to except for the wind and the waves…I've been hoping for this all my life…"

A few minutes later he was up in the cordage helping several of his fellow crewmates to take care of the sails as the entire crew was slowly emerging from sleep and started the usual working of the ship before heading to breakfast. Soon the peaceful silence was replaced by laughers, sailor songs, sails clapping and the usual morning call:

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!" Thatch shouted with his usual _I'm-so-pleased-with-myself _tone "Get you sorry arse down here, gotta show you something!"

As the teen gracefully went back on the deck Thatch excitedly grabbed his shoulder and pushed him aside behind a barrel, his trademark evil grin on his face.

"I've found a new prank for the chicken!"

"Really? What's the new one? I don't think anything will ever surpass that time when we followed him through his hometown the entire day, dropping blue feathers and making chicken noises behind him!"

"Yeah, the poor bloke didn't see us and was getting quite embarrassed with all the looks the townsfolk were giving him…especially the women. I should have taken a picture of his face!"

"It was totally worth the punishment."

"Agreed. Two months of potato peeling was a fair price for the sight of him losing his nerves like that! Now, for this new one we'll need to make our dear Marco…"

"To make your dear Marco WHAT?" suddenly cut said Marco aka Whitebeard First Division Commander, Phoenix Marco, Flaming Chicken and Bird of the Month (the two last nicknames being Thatch and Ace's ideas…)

"To make him happy to have such wonderful brothers of course!" quickly lied Ace while welcoming his blond brother with an innocent and (apparently) genuine smile.

"Hope you guys aren't planning another prank of yours AGAIN?"

"Where on earth did you get that idea? We're the embodiment of innocence!"

"Of course…Anyway shall we now go to breakfast or am I forced to kick your butts again to make you twits stop plotting against me? Why always me by the way?"

"Because we love the way your face turns red when you're embarrassed" answered bluntly Ace.

"Yep, looks like you're laying an egg or something." earnestly added Thatch.

"THAT'S IT THE CHICKEN'S GONNA KILL YOU THIS TIME!"

They arrived at the refectory, Marco chasing after the two others who were nearly chocking with laughers, Ace bursting into a new fit of laughers each time he looked up at Marco's face (picturing him in his head wearing a chick outfit) as Thatch had simply abandoned the idea of calming down and was currently rolling on the floor (literally).

Unfortunately he rolled on Jozu's feet and made said commander drop his plate on Thatch's face. Now covered with porridge he wasn't really laughing anymore and quickly grabbed the nearest thing he could throw at Jozu. However it appeared that throwing_ Namyul_ wasn't a brilliant idea either. A few minutes later the entire crew was fighting, plates and crewmembers were flying across the room, Namyul was hitting everybody in a five foot range with a single fish he had picked on somebody's plate, Jozu was trying to shave Vista's moustache with a butter knife, Ace was biting Marco who had him in a headlock while Thatch was jumping around the two of them acting like a bird trying to fly while shouting "_Chicken"_ in all the languages he knew. The only one who wasn't fighting was Selma. Sitting on a barrel she was calculating the average of which crewmember was thrown the most often.

Then Whitebeard appeared.

Everybody instantaneously froze except for Thatch who hadn't seen his captain arrival and was still doing his chicken dance while shouting "Poulet! Poulet! Huhn!"

"Thatch. One month of toilet cleansing" simply said Whitebeard as he quietly grabbed a plate and went eating in his cabin.

Half an hour later they had finally put everything back in order in the refectory and Thatch Marco and Ace were sitting at their usual table in the corner of the room.

Thatch (still grumbling about his _unfair punishment_) was an average sized man wearing a cook outfit (which was logical since he was the crew's cook) with two swords on his belt and was famous for his legendary banana-shaped haircut. He was supposed to be filling paperwork because yes, as childish as he could be, Thatch was a division commander. However for the moment he was toying with his pen and occasionally sighing at the sight of his huge pile of paperwork. What was the point in being a pirate if it was to fill-in paperwork?

Sitting in front of him was Marco the tall and blond First Division Commander, proudly exposing to view his Whitebeard Pirates tattoo on his bare and muscular chest. Contrariwise to Thatch he was working with a serious look on his face, sometimes glancing at his fellow crewmates to prevent a new fight from starting. One every day was enough, thank you very much.

Finally, opposite to Marco and next to Thatch was sitting Ace, crouched over several dictionaries and old dusty papers he was trying to decipher.

The twelve year old boy was quite small for his age but slim and muscular, showing his Whitebeard tattoo on his back. All this time spent working with the sails  
under the sun had left him with an eternally tanned skin, his neck only protected by his quite long raven and unruly hair. Finally the boy had startling bright green eyes and cute freckles covering his cheeks.

The three of them spent the afternoon working on their respective tasks chatting friendly, when Marco reached the sensible topic:

"You were up pretty early this morning Ace."

"That brat and you are always up earlier than us normal humans, I though you knew that Marco." Responded Thatch with a playful smile

"Yeah but this time…"

"In fact I…I had a nightmare. Once again. Always the same." finally answered Ace quietly.

The two adults exchanged worried looks then moved closer to Ace, Thatch smoothly rubbing the teen's back as Marco grabbed gently the boy's shoulders and said

"Those are only memories Ace. These…people, they made a living hell of your past, don't let them ruin you present too. You're away from this place, forever. And I swear you on Oyaji's head that I will never let you go back there."

"Yeah kiddo we're here for you now, and believe me nobody will lay a finger on my little pyro of a brother!"

Ace chuckled

"Thanks guys…I think I'm done with this for today" and he grabbed his books leaving the room silently before Marco and Thatch started talking worriedly:

"Oi, you think we should tell Oyaji about this?"

"He already knows. He said that Ace will need a lot of time to completely be over what happened. After all he's been with us for only 6 months. Poor kid. Thinking about what they've done to him makes me wanna kill them all slowly and painfully!"

"God Marco you're right I feel the same. Those filthy bastards! Nobody hurts our otouto! Still, when I remember the state we found him in…"

"Don't talk about that! Luckily he's much better now. Anyway we should concentrate on our work again, Ace wouldn't want us to talk like this about him, the kid's strong you know?"

* * *

Meanwhile Ace was back at his post next to the hand-rail and was watching his brothers and sisters passing by, sometimes carrying ropes, barrels, food or books and all of them greeting or waving to him.

"Hi Ace! What's the new invention?"

"Ace what's up otouto?"

"Hi kiddo!"

"Hi genius! Ano, could you check my gun if you've got the time? I think it's kinda broken and seeing that you're the one who designed it…"

Indeed the crew had soon found out that he was quite the genius himself and they often came to him asking for new inventions, reparations, research, books translations, or simply to know his opinion about something. He wasn't a commander but he was working nearly more than them!

Still, he was the youngest crewmember the Whitebeard Pirates had ever had and everybody had a soft spot for him, acting like big brothers and sisters (he was particularly appreciated amongst the nurses and sometimes had to run away to escape embarrassing hugs…). And Whitebeard of course was being a great father, the only one in the entire crew who knew about his bastard of a biological father and amongst the few of those who knew the details of what Ace went throught the last years. Oyaji was helping him a lot about it, being always here for Ace when he needed to be listened to, to be comforted, to be given advices or simply when he needed a shoulder to cry on.

Lost in his thoughts Ace hadn't seen the night falling. As he quickly rose to run to the refectory before being late he noticed a dark spot flying towards him in the deep-blue sky. The teen immediately adopted a fighting stance, feeling his fire burning inside him, but relaxed when he saw it was only a bird. An owl to be precise. Strangely the owl didn't land on the boat and left as soon as it dropped a letter onto Ace's hands. Said boy glared at the address (written on the yellowish envelope with emerald ink) with a surprised look on his face.

_Mr. Ace D Portgas_

_Second Division dormitory_

_The Moby Dick_

_New World_

_Grand Line_

**END OF CHAPTER 1**

so, what do you think? review please; I'll send you French food! ;)


	3. Chapter 2: THE YOUNG MAN AND THE SEA

Hi guys!

first of all, thank you thank you thank you for the reviews and for all the readers who put Hoist the colors in favorites or chose to follow it. This really means something for me, you guys are just awesome, thank you again! :)) *she is crying in front of her computer*

I finally have a precise idea of were the plot will be going, I might change some things from the original HP storyline but be aware that all the changes I will make are necessary to bring the conclusion of this story, so no need to tell me that "this doesn't exist in the books" or "this isn't happening in the first book" etc. However I will try my best to follow HP, don't worry about that! :)

This chapter was a bit tricky for me because of language problems, sorry if it seems a bit messy. I corrected it the best I could though!

It's kinda hard not to make Ace too OC, but he and Harry have quite different natures, so I'm mixing a bit of both into my version of Ace.

as usual reviews are appreciated! :))))

Anyway enough with the A/N (because half of you are skipping them anyway) and enjoy this chapter. It's a bit short but the next one will be up soon and much longer!

MMChris.

* * *

CHAPTER 2: THE YOUNG MAN AND THE SEA

_Fais de ta vie un rêve et de tes rêves une réalité. ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPERY_

_(Make a dream of your life and a reality of your dreams)_

"You must be mistaking, I mean I'm Ace…just Ace…"

"Well _just Ace,_ have you never made things happen when you were scared or angry?"

"…"

"That is what I was saying. You are a wizard my boy and just like your parents before you I wish for you to come to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, my school, in order to…"

"Did you know my mother?" Ace abruptly cut the old man with twinkling eyes.

"Yes, your parents were good friends of mine and…"

"So why didn't any of you wizards raise me? Why did you leave me?" Ace was struggling to repress his anger but he was slowly losing control of his emotions.

"Well you see my boy, when your father…"

"Don't talk about that man in front of me!"

"Ace, son, I'll take care of this now, why don't you go outside to breathe a little?" interrupted Whitebeard feeling Ace getting pretty angry

"…As you wish, Oyaji." And with that the teenager left Whitebeard's cabin where Oyaji and him had been talking with that Dumbledore about him being _magical _and going to a freaking school. And that old man HAD to mention Roger of course…

After a moment of silence the two old men continued the conversation.

"I'm sorry about that. Usually Ace is a very rational person, but I think mentioning his father wasn't a brilliant idea."

"Don't worry; being a Headmaster I am quite used to teenagers getting upset, this boy just needs to breathe a little. Out of curiosity, why is it that he hates his father so much?"

"I thought you knew Roger?"

"Indeed he was my student years ago and we remained quite close when he left Hogwarts…But I only discovered what he was really doing here when I arrived in your world in search of Ace. However I thought that being a pirate himself Ace would be quite proud of his father…"

"It is a long story that is not mine to tell. However I must ask you to keep this information for yourself, I am the only one on this ship who knows about the bond between Roger and Ace. As long as Ace doesn't want this information to be shared I will keep it for myself. I trust you to do the same."

Dumbledore hadn't failed to notice the slightly menacing tone Whitebeard had just used and nodded seriously before continuing.

"Anyway I wish for Ace to come to Hogwarts. He is a part of the Wizarding World and I already told you that he was famous and why."

"GURARARARA! I can't help laughing at the idea of Ace as a toddler destroying the most dangerous wizard of this era. That's my son!" Whitebeard emptied another giant bowl of sake, pouring more tea into Dumbledore's cup.

"Indeed that is quite impressive…But because of those events our whole world is waiting for him to come and if he were to stay here I cannot imagine what…"

"Sorry Headmaster" cut the old pirate "but it is not my decision to take. I understand your duty though, and I respect the effort you put in convincing my boy. However he is quite the wild one you know?"

"He is really his father's son, even if he doesn't like it…why is it that Ace is under your care now? I had quite a hard time finding him as I thought Monkey D Garp was taking care of him."

"The old Garp? Ah, yes. He left Ace to be raised on his hometown from what I've understood."

"So why is the boy with you know?" asked Dumbledore, his twinkling eyes showing concern for Ace.

"Again it is not my story to tell. Ask Ace, even if I doubt he will answer you. I think he only told about five crewmembers, me included, about what happened to him before he came here. Though it wasn't difficult to guess, judging by the state we found him in…lying on that beach all bloody and barely conscious…humph, I think my mind is rambling too much." Whitebeard mentally scolded himself for saying that much. "Again I trust you to keep everything I told you to yourself…"

"You have my word."

"I think he's calmed down now, I'll go and get him."

* * *

As Whitebeard left the cabin looking for Ace, Albus Dumbledore tried to organize his thoughts.

First, the Boy-Who-Lived wasn't with Garp anymore. Second, he was a pirate. And a powerful one seeing the wanted posters in the newspaper: who asks 200,000,000 Beri for a child if he isn't dangerous? Third, he was a part of the Whitebeard Pirates; apparently the captain was the most feared man in the Umi World. And fourth, they had found him…bloody? Unconscious? What on earth happened to that boy? The look in his eyes…it was literally _burning_…with a desire of freedom, with love for his crew, love for his captain of course but also with anger, rage even and overall with pain…_children should never have such a look_, thought bitterly the old wizard.

* * *

Meanwhile Whitebeard had found Ace alone at his usual spot on the deck. It was pretty late and there was nobody else awake, except maybe Marco still working in his cabin.

The old pirate seated next to the teenager who hadn't moved a finger and was leaning his back against the hand-rail and was clutching his legs, resting his head on his knees.

Ace finally broke the silence.

"I shouldn't have snapped at him…looks like a kind man...but all this time I thought I was a freak, some kind of monster. That's what they kept telling me at the faculty…that I wasn't a normal human and that I needed to be _cured_ or _destroyed_…and Sabo…if I really am a wizard, why couldn't I save him? Why couldn't I save myself! And if I am famous and important for them, why dind't they helped me? I…I don't know what to do Oyaji…"

Ace was silently sobbing now and was clutching Whitebeard's arm with all his might when the old pirate answered carefully.

"For me it doesn't matter if you are a wizard or not. You are Ace, my precious son. As for being a freak as you said, just look at our family: one of your bothers can turn himself into a huge burning phoenix, another can become diamond, another is a fishman and I myself am an _earthquake man…_We are not freaks, we are just lucky people who were given the power to fight for our beliefs and protect our beloved ones. This magic of yours is not different; it is nothing but a gift as is your devil fruit power. Also from what I understood there is an entire _world_ full of wizards, I can assume they don't see magic as a sign of freakiness, being magic themselves… And about what happened at the faculty…you should stop blaming yourself for your friend's death. Look at me in the eyes Ace…There. Was. Nothing. You. Could. Do."

"…but what do you think I should do now?"

"What I think doesn't matter son. But you have to know that if you do go to this school, you will still be a part of the Whitebeard Pirates and my son. Besides I believe that even if you go to this strange world you will always come back to us, to the ocean. You truly are a child of the sea, craving for freedom and adventure like me; I can see it in your eyes."

"I know that my place is here with you…but on the other hand, this is my mother's world we're talking about and it could have been mine too…Now I have the chance to discover it and to be a part of it…you know I always wanted to know something about my mother, I don't even know what her former name was before she changed it to _Rouge_, and I am offered the opportunity to go to her school, in her world, maybe to meet her friends…I think I that if I miss this occasion I will regret it all my life."

"So is it a yes then?"

Ace wiped his tears and put a resolute look on his freckled face.

"It is. I'll be going to Hogwarts."

END OF CHAPTER 2


	4. Chapter 3: FROM ONE WORLD TO ANOTHER

A/N

hi everyone!

I am so sorry for this (VERY) late update...I feel quite ashamed because I said in the previous chapter that I would update soon...

so here I come with my lames excuses:

1- school started again and I am litteraly DROWNING under work (I study French litterature, math, Physic, Biology, german, english, chinese, latin, history, geography, religion and music). I wake up at 6:30 to start school at 8am, I leave school at 6pm and finish homework at 11pm...I promise that I will update more often but I just need to organize myself...(NEVER attend to a French Highschool!)

2-I had this chapter ready but I deleted it and totally rewrote it because it sucked. And that takes some time.

Still, thank you to all of you who decided to follow this story or favorite it! Special thanks to my reviewers (that's really pushing me to update faster!)! for those of you who asked questions about the story, well, the only thing I can answer is "wait and you'll see soon"!

Again reviews are apreciated ;)

now on with chapter 3 (quite longer than the others, I'll try to keep my next chapters about the same length, or more if needed)!

* * *

CHAPTER 3: FROM ONE WORLD TO ANOTHER

_Voyager, c'est naître et mourir à chaque instant. VICTOR HUGO_

(_travelling, it is to be born and to die at every moment.)_

"I'll miss you otouto…"

"Take care of yourself!"

"Make lots of friends!"

"Don't be too stubborn!"

"Try not to be your usual workaholic self!"

"Have fun!"

"Pull some pranks for me will ya?"

"Give them a taste of the New World!"

"Also…"

"Thatch, Selma, let the kid breath! It's not like if it was his first solo trip!" Marco decided to put an end to this advice list that has been going on and on for days.

A week ago when Whitebeard had explained the situation and Ace's wish to go to this Hogspot school to the crew, they had been quite taken aback by Ace's unusual background (shit we're talking about a totally_ different world_ here!) but the shock was soon replaced by the apparent feeling that Ace was leaving the Moby Dick for a decade or something, instead of just a year. Led by Thatch and Selma they had apparently decided that choking Ace in bear-like hugs and giving him non-stop motherly advices (well, not very motherly in Thatch's case…) would delay is departure time that had been set to 7 days after Dumbledore's visit. Or maybe they thought that choking him would force him to stay recovering in the sickbay and keep him with them…

Marco was keeping his cool composure, knowing that Ace didn't like being treated like a weakling and that he had been through far worse than a simple school year…And if his little brother were to be annoyed by someone (or something)…well, let's say that said annoying person would end up burned and put in mental ward or swearing having been attacked by a blue giant flaming bird…

Now the whole crew was gathered on the upper deck, waiting for old Dumbledore to come pick Ace…Between the sobs, sighs and pleas for him to stay Ace was starting to regret his decision…

* * *

They made it quickly to lessen the sadness of saying goodbyes. After the lasts hugs Ace was left standing in front of his captain, Dumbledore stepping aside to give them some privacy. The two of them were facing each other, respect and almost worship in the boy's eyes, pride and concern in the old pirate's ones. And of course love in both looks. Ace felt on his knees and bowed before his Captain. He was about to say something when the booming voice stopped him:

"Ace my son, don't say anything. Just answer me: Am I a good father?"

"...The best one!"

Then at last it was Marco's turn…the two brothers held each other in a tight embrace and the older one whispered at the teen's ear

"Don't let them turn you into an obedient student! Make sure to always remember our song! Oh I almost forgot, take this with you!"

He hastily put a box in Ace's bag.

"When you're feeling sad or having nightmares just open it and look at what's inside…I thought you would like it."

Ace hadn't the time to answer as Marco pulled him towards Dumbledore who grabbed Ace's hand, eyes twinkling and an encouraging smile on his face.

"My boy, let's head to the place where all stories end and begin: a pub!"

Ace felt has if he was grabbed by his stomach and the two of them vanished from this world.

* * *

He instantaneously liked Hagrid. The giant man had this friendly aura around him that said "_I look like a thug but I behave like a teddy bear_". And he was indeed one of the nicest persons Ace had ever met.

Dumbledore had left Ace to Hagrid's care and the two of them were currently chatting at a table in the Leaky Cauldron. The young pirate wasn't that impressed by the grubby-looking pub, being a pirate he had been in far more…colorful places. Nevertheless Diagon Alley was simply a-ma-zing! Ace wished he had eaten the"see-see fruit" or something like that to be able to detail everything he saw,from the shops to the strange people shopping.

Those wizards…it was strange to think that if his mother hadn't been killed all those years ago he would have grown up to be a wizard teen, fainting in front of a racing broom and running away from book shops (you could say that the opposite happened, Hagrid had to drag him out of the book shop otherwise he would have spent his night reading everything he could)…Still these people were strange...Usually when Ace and the crew went to a crowded area that wasn't on Whitebeard's territory people were either A) running away screaming B) shutting up and letting them past.

He hadn't expected to experience C) running towards him yelling "we love you Ace, savior of the wizarding world" and trying desperately to speak to him, shake his hand, touch him, see him…Ace was trying to picture them learning that he was an infamous pirate, Fire Fist Ace from the Whitebeard Pirates…they would be quite shocked he supposed. He wasn't used to hiding his identity (he was more the showing off type, proudly exposing his Whitebeard tattoo) but old Dumbledore had asked him to keep it a secret (so he was forced to wear a shirt…that felt strange). Something about their governments being in contacts and Ace being in trouble if they found out who he was.

Hagrid interrupted his thoughts

"You have to understand them. You're the famous Ace D Portgas AND you spent all this years in Umi…they're just bloody curious about you!"

"About that, why is it that wizards seem to know everything about my world and WE didn't even suspect the existence of another world?"(Well _that _was a little lie...but he didn't want to talk about it...)

"You see, wizards have been thinking about other worlds for ages…we all dreamed about a place where we could live freely without having to hide our powers. When we discovered Umi years ago it was decided that we would seize this opportunity, so we made contact with your government and send volunteers to explore Umi…like your Mom and Dad...(He quickly continued after seeing Ace's face getting darker at the mention of his father.)So we discovered that we could Apparate in Umi and that the owls could reach this world too…We started to learn your history, your customs and stuff to be ready and start on good basis with your people. Only, the Ministry started studying Umi and his inhabitants like they were low beings not worthy to live with wizards as equals. They keep on saying that Umi inhabitants are thugs and that your civilazations are under-evolved...But clever people, led by Dumbledore, protest that you are just as mighty as we are, and because of all the actions he did in favor of Umi inhabitants Dumbledore was labeled as an enemy of the Ministry. Old Fudge, our Minister, forces newspapers to write idiocies about him to discredit what he says. I just think Fudge is really scared about what could happen if Umi's inhabitants were to be more powerful than wizards; it would simply destroy all the beliefs that wizards are superiors to Muggles and all the powerful wizarding families would be quite upset and they would probably blame it on Fudge for leading our government when the thing happened. The guy would lose his job and he certainly don't want that to happen."

"Governments are corrupted or full of morons everywhere you go."

"Fudge isn't a bad bloke; he's just scared to lose his job. But now Dumbledore is seen by many as an old fool even if he is the greatest wizard of this century. I heard the ministry is trying to make him quit Hogwarts but he wouldn't leave, so instead they decided to teach Umi history themselves and made it a compulsory subject at Hogwarts taught by one of Fudge's personal assistants. I forgot her name but I know she is quite...reluctant when it comes to different people..."

"I know I already read my school books. It's full of crap about my world, I think this teacher and I aren't going to be good friends if she thinks what's writting on this book..." He actually read all books from year 1 to 6; he still had problems with grasping the concept of self-transfiguration but was working on it.

"You're pretty smart aren't you?"

Seeing Ace surprisingly blushing at his comment made Hagrid continue on more light topics. Or so he thought.

"What about you? I've been with you for a whole day and you haven't talked even once about your family? What's your life like?"

Ace remained silent for a few moments. He couldn't talk about piracy because of his promise to Dumbledore, and he couldn't talk about what happened before piracy. Not now. Selma, Thatch, Marco and Oyaji knew, but he wasn't ready to talk about his life story to someone he just met. Heck he hadn't even tell more than 4 persons on the crew! Selma told him that keeping it to himself was hurting him more than if he told to people, but he simply wasn't ready. One day, he was sure; he would meet friends he could tell about it. Not brothers, sisters and father, but true friends. He had no friends of the same age (that was one of the reason that made him accept Dumbledore's offer). On Fushia Village Luffy and him were the only kids. He had met his only true friend far away from Fushia, a blond boy missing a tooth...and he was dead now.

But he had to answer Hagrid and didn't want to lie to the giant. He just had to keep silent about some events. So he talked about the most precious thing he had…

"Well, I have this crazy little brother. He's always either whining or beaming with joy and could eat meat non-stop. He's not very…clever, but he's the greatest kid ever and on our island everyone is fond of him. And he has this straw hat one of our friends gave him that never leaves him…"

He continued like this for quite a long time, Hagrid laughing at some of Luffy's idiotic actions, until Ace stopped talking in mid-sentence and fell asleep with his mouth open and his fork in his hand. However Hagrid woke him up laughing like a mad man and stated that is was bed time. Damn narcolepsy!

He hoped he wouldn't feel asleep like that at school…it would be so awkward…

* * *

The next morning Ace took a cab (cars were REALLY strange here) to King's Cross station with his trunk and Hedwig,his white owl named after a witch his History book was talking about. Hedwig was a present Hagrid had bought him to keep in touch with his family from Umi (what he didn't know was that said family was a bunch of pirates ruling over half of the world and fighting against marines on a daily basis, but what you don't know can't harm you right?).

Ace was a tough boy. He was a genius, a brave and strong fighter; he was inventive cunning and a wonderful strategist. His bounty was the highest one a boy his age ever had and he was feared amongst the marines for his incredible devil fruits abilities. They were very few things that could defeat him.

He never though that a railway station was one of those things.

Seriously platform _Nine and Three Quarters_? Where was he supposed to find that? After an hour spent searching everywhere for this apparently non-existent platform he had just decided that he was going to use his abilities to blow off the wall between Platforms 9 and 10 just to see if something would happen when he heard

"-packed with Muggles of course-"

He turned around to see a plump woman followed by four boys and a girl, all with flaming red dark haired teen followed them up to the wall between platform 9 and 10 without them noticing him. The oldest boy suddenly run right THROUGH the barrier between the two platforms and disappeared.

"Fred your turn!"

"I'm not Fred I'm George! And you pretend to be our mother woman?"

"Sorry, George dear"

"Only joking. I am Fred. Come on Georgie!" with that his twin brother followed him through the barrier.

Ace barely repressed a laugh and walked towards the woman her daughter and the only remaining boy.

"Erm…excuse me but…"

"New at Hogwarts dear? Don't worry it's Ron's first year too." Her son waved to Ace.

"Do you know how to go to the platform?"

"Yes dear, don't be afraid. All you have to do is walk through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Go first, Ron will follow you."

He grabbed his trunk and glanced at the barrier as if it would crumble just with the power of his gaze.

'_Hogwarts, here I come'_

And he ran.

* * *

The platform 9 ¾ was filled with students saying goodbye to their families, crying mothers, trunks, cats, toads, cries of joy from friends who hadn't seen each other for two month and smoke coming from a scarlet steam engine above whom was written in gold letters _Hogwarts Express leaving at 11 o'clock._

Because he wanted to avoid any "Oh my God look that's Ace D Portgas" shout; Ace silently made his way through the crowd and boarded on the train. He chose the first empty compartment he could find and lifted his heavy trunk into the luggage rack with no apparent effort.

"My God Fredie, look at this little muscle-man!"

Standing at the compartment door were the red haired twins Ace had seen with the plump woman moments before.

Ace shrugged and ran his hand through his messy black hair but this simple gesture made the twins look more excited that before.

"George do you see that scar?"

"Yes Fred" one of the twins asked Ace "so are you really him?"

"Who? Ah, yeah…I'm Ace" and he shook the twins' hands.

"I'm George and he's Fred"

They added together "We're the infamous Weasley twins, professional pranksters at your service!"

Ace liked them; they reminded him of Thatch (and maybe Luffy) back on the Moby Dick.

"Crap, we gotta say goodbye to Mom otherwise she's send us a howler shouting about making her worry about our well-being or something. See you later Ace!"

And they left a still grinning Ace alone in his compartment.

Sitting next to the window he opened it a little to be able to hear what the red-haired family was saying just outside his compartment

"Ron you've got something on your nose"

"MUM, please!"

"Little Ronnie got something on his nose!

"Shut up Fred!"

"Where's Percy?"

"I'm right here mother, but I can't stay long. I have to go to the front with the prefects."

"Perce hang on a second, you're a prefect?" one twin started

"Yeah I think he mentioned it once" followed the other one

"or twice"

"I think he even talk about it a minute"

"A day"

"A week"

"All summer…"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" cut Percy the Prefect.

"All right dear, have a good term, send owls regularly" and Percy left.

"Now you two…If I get one more owl telling me that you've blown a toilet or-"

"We've never done that before! But it's a good idea…"

"Behave yourself! And look after Ron."

"Don't worry Ronnie…"

"Shut up George!"

"Hey Mum guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?"

Ace leant back so they couldn't see him.

"That black haired boy near us at the station…he's _Ace D. Portgas!"_

"Poor boy, no wonder he was on his own…now Fred, George I forbid you to ask him anything about You-Know-Who of Umi…it's his first time in this world and his first day at school, he doesn't need you to bother him!"

"Actually he seemed pretty nice…The bloke laughed at our jokes…"

"Well, _he _won't have any problem with this new subject they are teaching at school…Merlin I hate working!"

Then somebody blew a whistle and the train started to leave. The boys hurried inside the train and waved goodbye to their mom and sister who had begun to cry.

Ace watched houses flash through the window and felt the familiar leap of excitement he always had when he was about to go on an adventure. He didn't know where he was going to but it didn't mattered. Pirate once, pirate all your life!

He bitterly thought about his family back on Grand Line, Marco would probably be working at this hour whereas Thatch would pick on him as Oyaji would be drinking booze on the deck…And of course Luffy…Luffy would probably be at their usual spot above the cliffs, listening to the waves crashing against the stone and wondering where Ace was and when they could be together again. Letters were nice and Ace cherished them, but there was a difference between writing to someone and actually talking to him (and Luffy's handwriting wasn't really easy to decipher…). He hadn't seen his precious little brother since the incident…

The door of the compartment slid open and the youngest red haired boy came in.

"Can I seat here? There's no room left…"

"Yeah sure"

The boy was detailing Ace without uttering a word when the twins came back.

"Hi again Ace! Okay little brother, we're going to the middle of the train to see Lee Jordan's tarantula."

"Right, see you at school." Answered the younger boy.

When the twins left he turned to Ace.

"Sorry but…are you really Portgas? I mean, Fred and George like making fun of me so…"

"That's alright." smiled Ace '_I do it to Marco myself_' and he held his hand out, waiting for the boy to shake it.

"As you know the name's Portgas D. Ace, but you can call me Ace. What's your name?"

The other boy smiled in return and shook Ace's hand.

"Ronald Weasley. But everyone calls me Ron."

END OF CHAPTER 3

* * *

TADAAA!

Ron is making is first appearance!

Also I tried to quote different French authors for my beginnings of chapters, but I really like Hugo and Saint-Exupéry (for those who don't know who they are, let's say the first one wrote _Les Misérables_and the second one _Le Petit_ Prince) so the quotes will be mostly from their work. And I translate them myself, so it doesn't really sound as good as it should be...

Thank you for reading and again **please review**!


	5. Chapter 4: CROSSROADS

A/N

hi my wonderful readers!

new chapter today (late I know)!

as usual reviewing would be very nice (and motivating) and thank you for all of you who follow this story! Thank you ^^

Again be comprehensive with language mistakes (My English teacher almost worships me now, this fic has made me improve my English so much!)

Also don't worry if you don't catch the link between the title (and quote) and the chapter itself before you've finish reading it.

Enjoy!

* * *

CHAPTER 4 : CROSSROADS

_Ceux qui vivent, ce sont ceux qui luttent ; ce sont  
Ceux dont un dessein ferme emplit l'âme et le front,  
Ceux qui d'un haut destin gravissent l'âpre cime,  
Ceux qui marchent pensifs, épris d'un but sublime._

_VICTOR HUGO __Les Châtiments (The Castigations)_

_(The ones who live, they are those who struggle; they are_

_The ones whose steady goal fills both soul and forehead,_

_The ones who of a high destiny ascend the bitter peak,_

_The ones who walk thoughtful, enraptured with sublime purpose.)_

"So you're from a wizard family ? "

"Er, yes I guess. I think Mom's got a cousin who's an accountant…I heard that you went to live on Umi…what is it like?

"Well, Umi's covered with water, we have four seas that we call the "four Blues" and one big ocean called Grandline. There is one huge continent which crosses Grandline at two points and we call it Redline. But there are thousands of smaller islands, some so tiny that you can only build a few houses, and some others bigger that Britain…Some say that there are even Sky islands, floating above the seas…"

"Wicked!"

"Haha! You're a _wizard_ and you get excited about a floating island? Anyway the island I grew up on is a fairly big island on East Blue and my village is called Fushia Village."

"Wow, that is so cool…And what about the pirates? Are they all rapists and thugs?...sorry but that's what our books say…" he added sheepishly seeing Ace's shocked look.

"Some of them are like that, but the famous ones are just adventurous guys in search of the One Piece-"

"What's the One Piece?"

"Are you kidding? I thought you guys knew everything about my world! And you don't know what the One Piece is?" he explained further seeing Ron's curious expression "it's a treasure."

"HAHAHAHA! A treasure called _ONE_ piece?" Ron was laughing out loud

"hey don't make fun of it!" but Ace was also chuckling "It's not just a treasure, it's THE treasure…but it's a long story, I don't know if-"

"Come on Ace! This train is going to take ages to go to Hogwarts and I'm already bored, we've got time!"

"okay, as you wish…So once upon a time-"

"Are you telling a pirate story of a baby girl one?"

"Shut up Ronald. Where could I begin? In my world we say that the four blues are quite calm areas and that if you want to live exciting adventures you have to go to the Grandline…Only on this ocean is the most dangerous place in the world, filled with monsters, crazy people, tornados, storms and it is almost impossible to travel all around the world on this ocean. Only one man in history did it…his name was Gol D. Roger…"

* * *

"So in the end he got killed?"

"Yup. He gave himself up to the government who planned a public execution for him. Only he knew he was going to die anyway but he didn't want his legend to die with him. So on the scaffold he grinned like a madman and dared anyone to come pick the One Piece he had left on Raftel…And this is how the Great Pirate Era began. The first who'll find the One Piece will be the Pirate King, only that's been 13 years since Roger's death and nobody had found the jackpot until now…"

"That Roger guy...You have to be mad to leave everything to be an outlaw like this. But it must be soooo cool...by the way, how is it that you know so much about piracy?"

"The story of the One Piece is pretty famous in Umi, even if now people tend to think that the One Piece-race is something Roger made up and that there's no actual treasure."

"Have you ever met a real pirate?"

Ace smiled inwardly _'Yes I have. Every day I talk with them, laugh with them, sing with them, fight alongside them because I'm actually one of them '_ but answered nonetheless "A couple of time...Seeing a pirate in a bar is a common thing on my island."

"Do they attack you?"

"Nah we're not worth it: Fushia is a really small village. Also sometimes they are really nice and help us so we don't tell the marines they are here. They can be quite friendly."

"Merlin that is so cool…I wish we had exciting pirates and legends like this here, the only exciting stuff we have is Quidditch. Know what it is?"

"No idea. Go on."

"Quidditch's the wizarding sport, you play it on flying brooms. You can be either Chaser, Beater or Seeker. The Chasers are supposed to-"

"haven't you seen a toad? A boy called Neville just lost his…" Ron was cut by a girl about their age with bushy brown hair.

"Nope, haven't seen any frog. By the way what's your name?"

"Sorry, I'm Hermione Granger, and you are?"

"Ronald Weasley."

"Portgas D. Ace."

"Are you really? I read a lot about you and how you defeated You-Know-Who, do you know that you are in _Modern Magical History__, __The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts_and _Great Wizarding Events of the 20__th__ Century__?_ I heard you lived in this other world all these years and didn't know anything about wizardry, so you probably were as excited as I was when you got your letter weren't you? I have already read all the books and practiced a few spells I hope it will be enough..."

She hadn't paused once while saying this and as she was trying to catch her breath Ron and Ace shoot strange looks at each other...

'_I haven't even read the books titles' _Ron worried

'_Wow. She REALLY is excited this one...' _Ace thought

"Well...Nice to meet you too I guess?" answered Ace unsurely

"Do either of you know in which House you'll be sorted? I heard Ravenclaw was good but Gryffindor would be better I think even Dumbledore went there...Anyway, I'll go look for Neville's toad, see you at school!" And she left the compartment.

"Whatever House I'm in, I hope she's not in it." Grumbled Ron

"How do they choose your House?"

"Dunno, my brothers didn't want to tell me. Fred talked about fighting a troll but I hope he was only joking . My whole family was in Gryffindor so I hope I'll get there too, because if they put me in Slytherin that would be the end of me..."

"That's the house Voldemort was in right?"

"Don't say his name!" Ron explained after noticing Ace's surprised look "It brings bad luck."

"Hum...what were you saying about Quidditch before the bushy storm came and interrupted us?"

"Yes Quidditch...So my favorite team are the Chudley Canons but I know that the Tornadoes aren't half bad too ..."

* * *

A couple of hours later Ace was already considering Ron as a friend, which was a first seeing that he wasn't exactly a trusting boy. Still the red haired boy was funny and the two of them get along very well. Ron had stopped feeling awkward in Ace's presence when the young pirate had offered him tons of sweets and been playing with him to taste every Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans. Of course the fact that Ace had another narcoleptic fit (that made him fall asleep his head right into a cake) helped him consider Ace as a nice bloke instead of some celebrity boy.

They had been talking about Quidditch for a long time then switched to Ron's family and life as a wizard child. Since their conversation about the One Piece Ace hadn't talk about Umi at all, not wanting Ron to ask him questions that he would have to answer with lies. The compartment door suddenly slid open to reveal three boy standing in front of them.

More like two gorillas and a small blond kid.

"Is it true? They're saying all down the train that Portgas is in this compartment. So it's you isn't it?"

His commanding tone, his smirk, his expensive-looking clothes and his stance reminded Ace of a noble or a Tenryubito. He didn't like this brat, but answered nonetheless.

"Yes."

"These two are Crabbe and Goyle. My name is Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."

Ron chuckled slightly

"Think my name's funny do you? No need to ask yours. Red hair, freckles and second hand clothes. My father told me about the Weasleys and their children, apparently they have to many to feed them all."

Yup, Ace definitely didn't like that blond git. Said git held out his hand waiting for Ace to shake it. The raven haired boy was fighting hard not to lose his temper. This Malfoy acted and spoke just like one of those morons in their bubble helmet (aka Tenryubito).

"Thank you for your kind words Draco but I would appreciate if you and your two gorillas could leave this compartment. You could ask the trolley lady if she can give you bananas to feed them."

"I wanted to be friendly with you Portgas, but you're like the Weasel already: ignorant, boorish and fool!"

"Nice name you got there. Mine's Portgas D. Ace, nice to meet you too."

And he shut the door.

"That jerk! My dad told me about his family. They were some of the first to came back to our side after You-Know-Who's downfall. Said they've been bewitched but my dad doesn't believe it. They don't need that to be evil. Thanks for what you've said..." his ears turned scarlet as the two of them thought about what Malfoy had said about the Weasley family.

"You know I didn't have a lot of money either when I was a kid" _'I didn't have money AT ALL actually'_ "and I have a lot of brothers and sisters too..."he had been wanting to comfort Ron and he realized too late what he had just said.

"Really? But...I thought you were an only child?"

"I got adopted" _'sort of...'_

The door was opened once more and Ace expected to see Malfoy behind it but it was only Granger again.

"Have you two been fighting already? You'll be in trouble even before we get there! And you should put your robes on, we'll arrive shortly."

"We weren't fighting!" said Ron, scowling at her. "Would you mind leaving while we change?"

"All right, but you got dirt on your nose did you know?"

When she left the compartment Ron and Ace changed to their robes. As he was trying to hide his tattoo from Ron the raven haired boy was facing him, his back to the window.

"Wow...Are you some kind of body-builder or something?" Ron watched Ace in awe.

"Erm...no but I do a lot of physical work in my village..." he lied hastily. He thought his lie wasn't very convincing but it was the first he had thought of. He resolve to make a mental list of lies to come up with if needed.

* * *

After spending months travelling on the Grand Line with his crew and seeing new wonders with every island they set foot on, Ace thought he was now quite difficult to impress (for a child).

That was before he saw Hogwarts.

All of the "first year" we separated from the others students and crossed a huge black lake on small boats (Ace appreciated the comforting feeling he always had when a was on a boat, no matter how small it was) and Ace was explaining to Ron Neville and Hermione the basics of shipping (Ron and Neville utterly impressed knowing that boats could be powered by things other than magic or muscles) when he stopped right on the spot at the sight of Hogwarts castle.

He admired the imposing building which towered the lake, detailing every tower every wall and every window he could see. It was one of the most beautiful buildings he had ever laid his eyes on.

_One day I'll bring Luffy to this place and he'll die from excitement at this sight, I can already see the sparkles in his eyes! He would love this place so much..._

_And Sabo would had loved that too.'_

"Thank you Hagrid. I will take them from here."

A tall and black-haired witch clad in emerald robes introduced herself at _Professor McGonagall_ and led them into the Entrance Hall (so big you could fit his old house in Fushia in it and still have room left) then to an empty chamber off the hall. The first-years crowded in, looking rather nervous.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. The banquet will begin shortly, but before that you will be sorted into your houses. While you are here your house will be something like your second family within the school. You will sleep in your house dormitory, have class with the rest of your house and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."

She left the little room and told them she'd be back in a few minutes to begin the Sorting. The first-years were hastily preparing to the ceremony, all of them wondering how they were going to be sorted.

"I think it's some sort of test. Fred told me it hurts a lot but I reckon he was only joking...I guess…"

"Quite the prankster isn't he?"Ace tried to calm Ron by changing the subject. He himself wasn't that nervous about the upcoming ceremony. He had seen far worse than a school banquet after all...

"Yeah, the twins are quite funny usually, but sometimes it's just too much...Blimey!"

Ace turned around to look at what Ron was gawking at and dropped his jaw. Really? _Ghosts_?! The nearest of them turned to face the terrified (Muggle-borns) or gawking (Pure-Bloods) first-years.

"New students! About to be sorted I suppose?" said a (very fat) monk. "I hope I will find you in Hufflepuff, that was my old house you know…before I died!" he added almost gleefully.

_'Okay. Take notes: Ghosts are creepy.'_

Professor McGonagall had returned and motioned for the ghosts to leave them. They waved a last time to the students and disappeared through the nearest wall.

_'Show time.'_

They entered a magnificent hall where hundreds of students where gathered around four long tables and walked between them, older students smiling encouragingly at them and members of a same family waving at each other.

Ace rose his head to admire the ceiling. It was unlike anything he had ever seen and he was currently fighting with the logical part of his mind which for one of the first times in his life couldn't find an explanation to what he was seeing. The floating candles where unusual enough without the strange sky above them. Yep, you heard me. A sky _inside _a building. _'I really have to read this __Hogwarts a History __book I saw the other day…_ '

"The sky isn't real. It is a magic ceiling that was bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read it in _Hogwarts a History_ "

_'The bookworm had struck again_.'

They reached what seemed to be the teachers' table at the top of the hall. Ace recognized Hagrid and Dumbledore, eyes twinkling as usual behind his half-moon glasses. The first years were all slightly green at this point (except Ace who kept wondering where the troll they apparently had to fight was) and were relieved to hear McGonagall explain them:

"When I will call your name, you will sit on the stool. I shall place the hat on your head and you will then be sorted into your house."

They all breathed normally again (_Crap. I guess I'll fight a troll another day_…) but almost fainted when the hat began to sing (_at this point nothing can surprise me. As long as he sings better than Selma there's no problem._)

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffis are true And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

if you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

The whole hall burst into applause as McGonagall read the first name written on a long parchment she was holding.

"Abott Hannah" was send to Hufflepuff, "Boot Terry" to Ravenclaw and the list went on until "Hermione Granger" (Ron was whispering "please let her not be in Gryffindor. Please. Please. Please") was send to Gryffindor ("Ace mate if she's with us the year's gonna be a nightmare.") Ace would normally have giggled but McGonagall called the next student:

"Ace Portgas."

"What did she say?"

"Portgas like _THE _Portgas?"

"Oh my God that's him!"

"Aw he's so cute!" (that was a girl speaking)

"Please let him be with us…"

Ace felt their stares on his back and stepped forward, head high and relaxed. The last thing he saw before the hat fell on his eyes was the crowd of students almost fighting to get a good look at him.

"Hum…Very difficult. I can see that-"

"How is it that you can talk in my mind?"

"Haha, brainy one aren't you boy? To answer your question, let's just say that I'm some sort of spirit bound to an old beanie…Where could I put you… You're too _wild _for Hufflepuff but smarter enough to fit in Ravenclaw, slyer than a Slytherin and braver than most Gryffindors…"

"In fact it all comes down to saying that you're useless."

"Be quiet boy, I'm thinking. But that was definitely a Slytherin comeback…"

"If you put me with Malfoy I'll fry you."

"Yes, I can see that you posess some quite _unusual _capacities. Mera Mera no Mi is that how you call it? Never mind, if you do not want to be send to Slytherin…are you realy sure of that? Because I can see you Gol D Ace. I can see your past, your darkest thoughts and the depths of your heart. And I can see your thirst of revenge. It is very strong and no matter how far you flee with your crew, how deep inside yourself you bury this rage that consumes you and how much you lie to yourself about it, I can still see it. Stop pretending you came here to find things about your family because you know that you came for something else entirely. And you were right. Magic can help you to achieve your goal. Magic can help you to kill _them_ , to make them suffer as much as they made you suffer. Magic can help you to avenge your brother and all the others. Magic can help you to make _them_ feel all your rage and anger. Magic can bring you all of this and now you have to choose if you're going to accept this gift or not. For this path you walk on is dangerous and will bring you pain and sadness no matter what you do. The fate of those who seek revenge is will end up suffering and hurting yourself even more. Ravenclaw will bring you calm, peace and knowledge and you will one day be able to leave your past behind you forever-"

"I won't. I will NEVER forgive and NEVER forget."

"So you have to choose between Slytherin and Gryffindor. Slytherin will bring you power and ease and you will probably reach your goal faster, but it will also bring you loneliness. Whereas Gryffindor will give you allies you will count on and trust with your life. Another family in another world, people who will fight for you and die for you just like your crew would do. Maybe you don't know this now, but a day will come where you will need them even more than your family. But finding them will also make you more vulnerable and you will suffer much more. Tonight choosing your house isn't just about the time you will spend at Hogwarts, it's choosing between surviving,like a glow lasting with a dim light, or truly living with all the joys and pains you may encounter, like a blaze perhaps dying out fast but shining brighter than anything."

"My choice has been made a long time ago."

"Are you really sure about this? I was made to serve this school and its students. I'm only trying to protect you."

"..."

"Very well."

And Ace heard the hat shout his house's name in the silence of the Great Hall.


End file.
